People's understanding of LGBTQ community is distorted: actor Jitin

Actor Jitin Gulati, who is part of "Sisak" -- being touted as India's first silent LGBTQ film -- says most people don't understand the difference between various sections of the community and that affects the narration of films in the mainstream.

Why have mainstream films not explored the subject enough?

Jitin told IANS here: "I think in the society, our understanding of the LGBTQ community is pretty distorted. People don't know the difference between the sects and the community. For instance, I doubt if anyone knows the difference between a transgender and a gay. That's what gets reflected in cinema."

He added: "Unless we create awareness among people about our community, we cannot make films that can represent any character from the community correctly as actors, at times, tend to overdo things. It all happens due to lack of knowledge."

However, the actor is quite hopeful that the time is quite progressive where at least some people are coming out of the closet and the conversation has begun among people.

"I think in the coming 10 years, we will get to see the change," he said.

"Sisak" is based on two boys, who meet in a local train, and how even without exchanging words, develop an attraction and love for each other.

The movie has been to various international film festivals like the Wicked Queer -- Boston's annual LGBT Film Festival and New York Indian Film Festival.

It also got support from a section of Bollywood. For instance, actress Sonam Kapoor launched the trailer of the film.

Jitin considers all this "an added advantage".

"If we are using their popularity for the right film, it will create awareness about the feeling of the LGBTQ community. We went through a huge struggle to do the film. It is a crowd funded film, and there was no producer who invested money.

"Faraz (director) put money from his savings. So when Sonam promoted the film, put it in the right direction, it got a huge mileage because she has millions of followers," he said.

Directed and written by Faraz Arif Ansari, "Sisak" also features Dhruv Singhal.

It will be screened at the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival on Sunday.

--IANS

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